LA Galaxy Defeat Real Salt Lake to Snap Historic Winless Skid | OneFootball

The LA Galaxy snapped their 16-match winless streak on Saturday night, picking up their first win of the season with a 2–0 victory against Real Salt Lake.

Heading into the match, the Galaxy had not won an MLS game since defeating the New York Red Bulls in the 2024 MLS Cup Final, which took place on Dec. 7, 2024, making it 175 days since they last tasted victory within the league.

Lucas Sanabria scored the opening goal for the Galaxy at America First Field in the 17th minute, before Joseph Paintsil added an insurance goal in the 55th minute to seal the win. On the backend, Novak Mićović made four saves for the clean sheet.

While the Galaxy lost 7–0 to the Red Bulls on May 10, they had mostly stayed within respectable scorelines amid their struggles. Yet, their winless skid set an MLS record for the worst start by a defending champion and worst start to a season for any team.

By snapping the streak, they avoid the longest winless streak in MLS history, and finally come out on the right side of a result, after a spell of improved efforts that fell agonizingly short of wins.

It has been a testing season overall for the Galaxy, having to navigate their way through the start of the campaign without talismanic midfielder Riqui Puig, who continues to recover from an ACL injury. At the same time, other ailments have sidelined Paintsil, Marco Reus and Gabriel Pec for parts of the season.

Recent weeks had seen them become slightly more competitive, with a 2–1 loss to San Diego FC, a 1–0 loss to the San Jose Earthquakes, and a 3–2 loss to the Philadelphia Union in a match they led 2–0 at halftime.

Outside of MLS play, the Galaxy picked up a 4–1 win against Costa Rica's Herediano in the Concacaf Champions Cup in March.

Despite the early-season struggles, the club signed head coach Greg Vanney to an extension through the 2028 MLS season, putting their faith in his long-term vision, while also holding out hope that Puig’s expected summer return could push them into better form to end the season.

"I'm proud of these guys," Vanney said after the win. "They've stuck with it, and today they've battled, and it was a commitment for 90 minutes.

“I don’t see why we can’t get on a run...For us, as a group, it’s about learning how to win and getting across the finish line. So hopefully tonight will be a lesson.”

The victory puts the Galaxy on seven points through 17 games, keeping them last in MLS and the Western Conference, 13 points off the Houston Dynamo for ninth place and the final MLS Cup Playoff spot.

The Galaxy are back on the pitch on June 14 to take on another struggling side, St. Louis CITY SC.

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